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Prosaic title
May. 18th, 2010 05:33 pmI actually wrote a Tuesday Poem last week and then forgot to bring my notebook in with me, so it'll arrive tomorrow. Instead, here are some books I've read lately. They all come highly recommended.
Hicksville, by Dylan Horrocks
This has been on my list since VUP published it earlier this year. It's a graphic novel that's actually quite old, and it was originally published in Canada. (If we're flisties because of comics and you think you know the name Horrocks, it's possibly because you remember the issues of Batgirl [first Cass Cain run] or the sequel to Books of Magic that he scripted.) Hicksville is actually set in New Zealand and the US, though; mostly in a small town in the North Island, the titular Hicksville, where everybody reads and loves comics. This is a really beautiful graphic novel that is also pretty painful to read if you're a superhero comics fan, although it's also so honest and gorgeous that you'll probably keep reading anyway. It's ultimately, I guess, about the value of low-budget, indie comics (including low-budget superhero indie comics). And it's also a story about family and community.
Strong Poison and Gaudy Night, by Dorothy L Sayers
Yes: I'd never actually read these books, which are the two crucial Harriet Vane novels. While neither of them, IMO, hold a candle to my favourite Wimsey novel of all time, Murder Must Advertise, they are still quite seriously charming. Harriet and Peter reminded me incredibly of Ekatarin and Miles, although really, of course, it's the other way around.
Prodigal Summer, by Barbara Kingsolver
Reading this book was actually quite a sad experience, because Kingsolver is one of my favourite novelists of all time and now I've read all of her novels. Prodigal Summer is, maybe, my new favourite, and I must say that it threw The Lacuna, which I read earlier this year (and liked very much), into sharp relief. The Poisonwood Bible, even though it's most famous, is my least favourite of Kingsolver's works, because to me Kingsolver's greatest strength is her immersion in a place which she clearly knows and loves very well. I was not convinced by the sense of place in Poisonwood nearly so well, and in retrospecdt I feel similarly about those sections of The Lacuna which take place out of the US (most of the novel, in fact.)
At any rate, Prodigal Summer. This is a gorgeous, alive book, and if you've liked any of Kingsolver's other work you will surely like this. If you only sort of liked The Poisonwood Bible or thought The Lacuna didn't quite meet expectations, I highly recommend you pick up this, Animal Dreams, or The Bean Trees, all of which are flat wonderful.
Hicksville, by Dylan Horrocks
This has been on my list since VUP published it earlier this year. It's a graphic novel that's actually quite old, and it was originally published in Canada. (If we're flisties because of comics and you think you know the name Horrocks, it's possibly because you remember the issues of Batgirl [first Cass Cain run] or the sequel to Books of Magic that he scripted.) Hicksville is actually set in New Zealand and the US, though; mostly in a small town in the North Island, the titular Hicksville, where everybody reads and loves comics. This is a really beautiful graphic novel that is also pretty painful to read if you're a superhero comics fan, although it's also so honest and gorgeous that you'll probably keep reading anyway. It's ultimately, I guess, about the value of low-budget, indie comics (including low-budget superhero indie comics). And it's also a story about family and community.
Strong Poison and Gaudy Night, by Dorothy L Sayers
Yes: I'd never actually read these books, which are the two crucial Harriet Vane novels. While neither of them, IMO, hold a candle to my favourite Wimsey novel of all time, Murder Must Advertise, they are still quite seriously charming. Harriet and Peter reminded me incredibly of Ekatarin and Miles, although really, of course, it's the other way around.
Prodigal Summer, by Barbara Kingsolver
Reading this book was actually quite a sad experience, because Kingsolver is one of my favourite novelists of all time and now I've read all of her novels. Prodigal Summer is, maybe, my new favourite, and I must say that it threw The Lacuna, which I read earlier this year (and liked very much), into sharp relief. The Poisonwood Bible, even though it's most famous, is my least favourite of Kingsolver's works, because to me Kingsolver's greatest strength is her immersion in a place which she clearly knows and loves very well. I was not convinced by the sense of place in Poisonwood nearly so well, and in retrospecdt I feel similarly about those sections of The Lacuna which take place out of the US (most of the novel, in fact.)
At any rate, Prodigal Summer. This is a gorgeous, alive book, and if you've liked any of Kingsolver's other work you will surely like this. If you only sort of liked The Poisonwood Bible or thought The Lacuna didn't quite meet expectations, I highly recommend you pick up this, Animal Dreams, or The Bean Trees, all of which are flat wonderful.
